History

Ilocanos are descendants of Austronesian-speaking people from southern China via Borneo.[citation needed] Families and clans arrived by viray or bilog, meaning "boat". The term Ilokano, as commonly accepted, originates from i-, "from", and looc, "cove or bay", thus "people of the bay." But some modern scholars, however, argue that as taking into consideration the Ilocano tradition of giving names to their place of residency is concerned, the i + looc etymology is not of local origin. These scholars suggest that the term Ilocano comes from "i-", "from", and "lukong", "the flat lands" or "the lowlands". Ilokanos also refer to themselves as Samtoy, a contraction from the Ilokano phrase sao mi atoy, "our language here".

Classification

Ilocano comprises its own branch in the Philippine Cordilleran family of languages. It is spoken as a native language by eight million people.[citation needed]

A lingua franca of the northern region, it is spoken as a secondary language by more than two million people who are native speakers of Pangasinan, Ibanag, Ivatan, and other languages in Northern Luzon.[citation needed]

Geographic distribution

Ilokano population distribution. Enlarge picture to see percent distribution.

Ilocanos occupy the narrow, barren strip of land in the northwestern tip of Luzon, squeezed in between the inhospitable Cordillera mountain range to the east and the South China Sea to the west. This harsh geography molded a people known for their clannishness, tenacious industry and frugality, traits that were vital for survival.[citation needed] It also induced Ilokanos to become a migratory people, always in search for better opportunities and for land to build a life on. Although their homeland constitutes the provinces of Ilocos Norte, Ilocos Sur, La Union and Abra, their population has spread east and south of their original territorial borders.

Ilocano pioneers flocked to the more fertile Cagayan Valley, Apayao mountains and the Pangasinan plains during the 18th and 19th centuries and now constitute a majority in many of these areas.[citation needed] In the 20th century, many Ilokano families moved to Metro Manila and further south to Mindanao. They became the first Filipino ethnic group to immigrate en masse to North America (the so-called Manong generation), forming sizable communities in the American states of Hawaii, California, Washington and Alaska. Ilokano is the native language of most of the original Filipino immigrants in the United States, but Tagalog is used by more Filipino-Americans because it is the basis for Filipino, the national language of the people of the Philippines.[citation needed]

Writing system

Our Father prayer from Doctrina Cristiana, 1621.

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Pre-Colonial

Pre-colonial Ilocanos of all classes wrote in a syllabic system prior to European arrival. They used a system that is termed as an abugida, or an alphasyllabary. It was similar to the Tagalog and Pangasinan scripts, where each character represented a consonant-vowel, or CV, sequence. The Ilokano version, however, was the first to designate coda consonants with a diacritic mark - a cross or virama - shown in the Doctrina Cristiana of 1621, one of the earliest surviving Ilokano publications. Before the addition of the virama, writers had no way to designate coda consonants. The reader, on the other hand, had to guess whether the vowel was read or not.

Modern

In recent times, there have been two systems in use: The "Spanish" system and the "Tagalog" system. In the Spanish system words of Spanish origin kept their spellings. Native words, on the other hand, conformed to the Spanish rules of spelling. Nowadays, only the older generation of Ilocanos use the Spanish system.

The system based on that of Tagalog is more phonetic. Each letter receives one phonetic value, and better reflects the actual pronunciation of the word.[2] The letters ng, however, constitute a digraph and counts as a single letter, following n in alphabetization. As a result, numohumility appears before ngalngalto chew in newer dictionaries. Words of foreign origin, most notably those from Spanish, need to be changed in spelling to better reflect Ilokano phonology. The weekly magazine Bannawag is known to use this system.

Samples of the two systems

The following are two versions of the Lord's Prayer. The one on the left is written using the Spanish-based orthography, while the one on the right uses the Tagalog-based system.

Amami, ñga addaca sadi lañgit,

Madaydayao coma ti Naganmo.

Umay cuma ti pagariam.

Maaramid cuma ti pagayatam

Cas sadi lañgit casta met ditoy daga.

Itedmo cadacam ita ti taraonmi iti inaldao.

Quet pacaoanennacami cadaguiti ut-utangmi,

A cas met panamacaoanmi

Cadaguiti nacautang cadacami.

Quet dinacam iyeg iti pannacasulisog,

No di quet isalacannacami iti daques.

Amami, nga addaka sadi langit,

Madaydayaw koma ti Naganmo.

Umay koma ti pagariam.

Maaramid koma ti pagayatam

Kas sadi langit kasta met ditoy daga.

Itedmo kadakam ita ti taraonmi iti inaldaw.

Ket pakawanennakami kadagiti ut-utangmi,

A kas met panamakawanmi

Kadagiti nakautang kadakami.

Ket dinakam iyeg iti pannakasulisog,

No di ket isalakannakami iti dakes.

Ilokano and education

With the implementation of the Bilingual Education System of 1897, Ilocano, together with the other seven major languages (those that have at least a million speakers), was allowed to be used as a medium of instruction until the second grade. It is recognized by the Commission on the Filipino Language as one of the major languages of the Philippines.[citation needed] Constitutionally, Ilocano is an auxiliary official language in the regions where it is spoken and serves as auxiliary media of instruction therein.[3]

In recent years, a movement in both the Lower and the Upper House of the Congress pressed for the usage of the mother tongue as a medium of instruction until the sixth grade.[citation needed]

Literature

Ilocano animistic past offers a rich background in folklore, mythology and superstition (see Religion in the Philippines). There are many stories of good and malevolent spirits and beings. Its creation mythology centers on the giants Aran and her husband Angngalo, and Namarsua (the Creator).

The epic story Biag ni Lam-ang (The Life of Lam-ang) is undoubtedly one of the few indigenous stories from the Philippines that survived colonialism, although much of it is now acculturated and shows many foreign elements in the retelling. It reflects values important to traditional Ilokano society; it is a hero’s journey steeped in courage, loyalty, pragmatism, honor, and ancestral and familial bonds.

Ilocano culture revolves around life rituals, festivities and oral history. These were celebrated in songs (kankanta), dances (sala), poems (daniw), riddles (burburtia), proverbs (pagsasao), literary verbal jousts called bucanegan (named after the writer Pedro Bucaneg, and is the equivalent of the Balagtasan of the Tagalogs) and epic stories.

Phonology

Segmental

Vowels

Modern Ilocano has two dialects, which are differentiated only by the way the letter e is pronounced. In the Amianan (Northern) Dialect, there exist only five vowels while the Abagatan (Southern) Dialect employs six.

Amianan: /a/, /i/, /u/,/ɛ/,/o/

Abagatan: /a/, /i/, /u/,/ɛ/,/o/,/ɯ/

The letter in bold is the graphic (written) representation of the vowel.

Ilokano Vowel Chart

Height

Front

Central

Back

Close

i/i/

e/ɯ/, u/o/u/

Mid

e/ɛ/

o/o/

Open

a/a/

For a better rendition of vowel distribution, please refer to the IPA Vowel Chart.

Unstressed /a/ is pronounced [ɐ] in all positions except final syllables, like madí[mɐˈdi] (cannot be) but ngiwat (mouth) is pronounced [ˈŋiwat].

Although the modern (Tagalog) writing system is largely phonetic, there are some notable conventions.

Instances such as masapulmonto, You will manage to find it, to need it, are still consistent. Note that masapulmonto is, in fact, three morphemes: masapul (verb base), -mo (pronoun) and -(n)to (future particle). An exception to this rule, however, is laud/la.ʔud/ (west). Also, u in final stressed syllables can be pronounced [o], like [dɐ.ˈnom] for danum (water).

That said, the two vowels are not highly differentiated in native words, due to fact that /o/ was an allophone of /u/ in the history of the language. In words of foreign origin, notably Spanish, they are phonemic.

Example:usouseosobear

Unlike u and o, i and e are not allophones, but i in final stressed syllables in words ending in consonants can be [ɛ], like ubíng[ʊ.ˈbɛŋ] (child).

Unstressed /i/ and /u/ are pronounced [ɪ] and [ʊ] except in final syllables, like pintás (beauty) [pɪn.ˈtas] and buténg (fear) [bʊ.ˈtɛŋ] but bangir (other side) and parabur (grace) are pronounced [ˈba.ŋiɾ] and [pɐ.ˈɾa.buɾ].

Amianan and Abagatan pronunciation of /e/

The letter e represent two vowels in the Abagatan (Southern) dialect, /ɛ/ in words of foreign origin and /ɯ/ in native words, and only one in the Amianan (Northern) dialect, /ɛ/.

Realization of 'e'

Word

Gloss

Origin

Amianan Dialect

Abagatan Dialect

keddeng

assign

Native

kɛd.dɛŋ

kɯd.dɯŋ

elepante

elephant

Spanish

ʔɛ.lɛ.pan.tɛ

ʔɛ.lɛ.pan.tɛ

Diphthongs

Diphthongs are combination of a vowel and /i/ or /u/. In the orthography, the secondary vowels (underlying /i/ or /u/) are written with their corresponding glide, y or w, respectively. Of all the possible combinations, only /ai/ or /ei/, /iu/, /ai/ and /ui/ occur. In the orthography, vowels in sequence such as uo and ai, do not coelesce into a diphthong, rather, they are pronounced with an intervening glottal stop, for example, buokhair/bʊ.ʔuk/ and daitsew/da.ʔit/.

The diphthong [ei] is a variant of [ai] in native words. Other occurrences are in words of Spanish and English origin. Examples are reyna[ˈɾei.na] (from Spanish reina, queen) and treyner[ˈtɾei.nɛɾ] (trainer). The diphthongs [oi] and [ui] may be interchanged since [o] is an allophone of [u] in final syllables. Thus, apúy (fire) may be pronounced [ɐ.ˈpoi] and baboy (pig) may be pronounced [ˈba.bui].

All consonantal phonemes except are /h, ʔ/ may be a syllable onset or coda. The phoneme /h/ is a borrowed sound and rarely occurs in coda position. Although, the Spanish word, reloj, clock, would have been heard as [re.loh], the final /h/ is dropped resulting in /re.lo/. However, this word also may have entered the Ilokano lexicon at early enough a time that the word was still pronounced /re.loʒ/, with the j pronounced as in French, resulting in /re.los/ in Ilokano. As a result, both /re.lo/ and /re.los/ occur.

The glottal stop /ʔ/ is not permissible as coda; it can only occur as onset. Even as an onset, the glottal stop disappears in affixation. Take for example the root aramat, use. When prefixed with ag-, the expected form is *ag-aramat/ʔɐɡ.ʔɐ.ra.mat/. But, the actual form is, in fact, agaramat/ʔɐ.ɡɐ.ra.mat/; the glottal stop disappears. In a reduplicated form, the glottal stop returns and participates in the template, CVC, agar-aramat/ʔɐ.ɡar.ʔɐ.ra.mat/.

Stops are pronounced without aspiration. When they occur as coda, they are not released, for example, sungbat[sʊŋ.bat̚]answer, response.

Ilokano is one of the Philippine languages which is excluded from [ɾ]-[d] allophony, as /r/ in many cases is derived from a Proto-Austonesian */G/, compare dugô (Tagalog) and dara (Ilokano) blood.

The language marginally has a trill [r] which was spelled as “rr”, for example, serrek[sɛ.ˈrɛk]to enter. But it is different in proper names of foreign origin, mostly Spanish, like Serrano, which is correctly pronounced [sɛ.ˈrano]. Some speakers, however, pronounce Serrano as [sɛ.ˈɾano].

Prosody

Stress

Lexical

Stress is phonemic or lexical in Ilokano. This results in minimal pairs such as káyo (wood) and kayó (you (plural or polite)) or kíta (class, type, kind) and kitá (see). In written Ilokano, stress is not indicated, thus kayo and kita. Regardless of that fact, phonemic patterns can be found that give a good indication how to determine the primary stress of a given root.

Pitch

Primary stressed syllables are lower in pitch compared to the rest of the prosodic word.

Notes

^ The reverse is true for the vowel /u/ where it has two representations in native words. The vowel /u/ is written o when it appears in the last syllable of the word or of the root, for example kitaemonto /ki.ta.e.mun.tu/. In addition, e represents two vowels in the southern dialect: [ɛ] and [ɯ].

^ Ilocano syllables always begin with a consonant onset. Words that begin with a vowel actually begin with a glottal stop ('[ʔ]'), but it is not shown in the orthography. When the glottal stop occurs within a word there are two ways it is represented. When two vowels are juxtaposed, except certain vowel combinations beginning with /i/ or /u/ which in fact imply a glide /j/ or /w/, the glottal stop is implied. Examples: buokhair[buː.ʔok], daitsew[daː.ʔit], but notruaroutside[ɾwaɾ]. However, if the previous syllable is closed (ends in a consonant) and the following syllable begins with a glottal stop, a hyphen is used to represent it, for example lab-aybland[lab.ʔai].

^ abcdefg Letters in parentheses are orthographic conventions that are used.

mannurat.com blog of an Ilokano fictionist and poet written in Iloko and featuring original and Iloko fiction and poetry, literary analysis and criticism focused on Ilokano Literature, and literary news about Iloko writing and writers and organization like the GUMIL (Gunglo dagiti Mannurat nga Ilokano).

From Wikitravel

Contents

Ilocano or Iloco (also
Iluko) is the main language of the Northern Philippines. According
to the 2005 Census, there are about 8 million people who speak
Ilocano as a mother tongue (locally called kabakketan a
dildila) and still another 2 million who speak it as a second
language. Although it has no official status in the country, those
who use it often call it the National Language of the
North. From their traditional homeland (the
Ilocandia), Ilocanos have migrated southward, now forming large
communities in Central Luzon, Metropolitan Manila and even in the
main Urban centres of General Santos City and Zamboanga City in
the Island of Mindanao.

Belonging to the Austronesian family of languages, it is related
to all the other languages in the Philippines like the larger Tagalog
and Cebuano. It is also distantly
related to Malagasy, Malay, Tetum, Hawaiian and other Polynesian
languages.

Alagadan or Grammar

Ilocano is an agglutinative language. Meaning, it employs a
number of affixes to signify changes in meaning. If you are having
a hard time looking for a word in the dictionary, try dropping the
following suffixes:

--ak or -k

I or my

--tayo

we or our

--mo

you or your (singular)

--yo

you or your (plural)

--na

his, her or its

--da

their

--en or -n

already

Pronunciation guide

Like all its sister languages, Ilocano is fairly easy to
pronounce. And although there are two orthographic systems that are
in common use, the one based on Tagalog is more commonly found in
publications. The general rule is one sound for each
letter. However, the language, like all the
Borneo-Philippine Languages, employ the digraph
ng to represent an initial velar nasal
consonant (the ng in English sing).

Accents are very unpredictable and must be learnt while learning
the new word. Although books about the language will show these
signs, they are often not found in publications like
newspapers.

Vowels

The Ilocano language has either five or six vowels, depending on
what dialect you choose to speak. The language is generally divided
into the Amianan (Northern) and Abagatan (Southern) Dialects. The
only difference however between these two dialects is the way they
pronounce the letter 'E'. In the Abagatan Dialect, only five vowels
are present and they are pronounced as follows:

a

open front unrounded vowel IPA [a]; like the
a in
father

e

open-mid front unrounded vowel IPA [ɛ]; like the
e in bed

i

close front unrounded vowel IPA [i]; like the
ea in beat

o

close-mid back rounded vowel IPA [o]; like the
au in
author

u

close back rounded vowel IPA [u]; like the
oo in boot

On the other hand, the Amianan Dialect has another vowel for the
symbol 'e'. For the speakers of the Abagatan Dialect, the 'e' that
was given above is used for words of foreign origin (e.g. elepante
from Spanish). For native words, the sound of a close back
unrounded vowel is used. There is no equivalent for this sound in
English so some dictionaries use the IPA symbol for the schwa sign.
But the proper symbol must be:

e

close back unrounded vowel IPA [ɯ]; like the
ao in the Scots Gaelic
caol.

Historically, Ilocano has only 3 vowels and this reality is
still evident until today as the sounds of
e and i and
o and u' often
merges.

When the letter i precedes another
letter, its sound will glide resulting to the sound of [j]. This
happens also to the letter u where it
glides into the sound of [w].

Spanish cities such as Vigan were in contact with Spanish,
hence, the additional open-mid front unrounded vowel "e".

Consonants

In modern written Ilocano (based on Tagalog Ortography), there
are 16 symbols for the consonnts but there are more than 16
consonant sounds in the language. Here, we include the other
letters that may likely occur in some prints.

b

like the English bed

c

like the k in
sky not as in
kite

d

like the d in the Japanese
dojo

f

(in proper nouns only) like the English
feather

g

like the English go

g

(in foreign words from Spanish only) like the English
house

h

like the English house

j

(in foreign words from Spanish only) like the English
house

k

like the k in
sky not as in
kite

l

like the l in
London

m

like the m in
mother

n

like the n in
nanny

p

like the p in
spot not as in
pot

qu

like the k in
sky not as in
kite

r

like the r in
right

r

(in foreign words from Spanish only) like the
r in rojo

s

like the s in
seven

t

like the d in the Chinese
Dao De
Jing

v

like the English bed

v

(in proper nouns only) like the v in
vase

w

like the w in
water

x

(in proper nouns only) like the x' in
six'

x

(in proper nouns only) like the x' in the
Spanish Mexico

y

like the y in
yam

z

like the s in
seven

z

like the z' inzebra

Some consonants change their sounds when followed by a vowel.
The the following sounds are produced:

di

like the j in
jack

si

like the sh in
shampoo

ti

like the ch in
ch'urch

As mentioned above the digraph ng
represents the sound of the same digraph in
Singer. However, unlike in English, this
sound may be used as initial.

The inital glotal stop is not written. Thus, it appears as if
the word commences with a vowel. When it occurs at the middle of
the word, a hypen (-) is inserted to represent the sound.

Common diphthongs

There are only three commonly used dipthongs in the Ilocano
language. They are as follows:

ay

like the i in
high

iw

like the iw in
Tiw

oy

like the oy in
boy

Other dipthongs are also likely to occur but they are generally
from loaned words. They are usually pronounced as they are
foreign.

Hello.

(There is actually no equivalent for this greeting. Instead,
Ilocanos tend to greet in terms of time or by asking
how are you.)

How are you?

Kumustak? (also kumustan?)

Fine, thank you.

Nasiyaat met, agyamanak!

What is your name?

Ania ti naganmo? (often contracted ania't
naganmo?)

My name is ______ .

______ ti naganko. (or more formally although not usually used
Ti naganko ket _____ . Note: Ilocanos tend to simply give
their names.)

Nice to meet you.

. ( )

Please.

Pangngaasi . ( )

Thank you.

Agyamanak. ( )

You're welcome.

Awan ti agyaman. (coll. Awan t'agyaman.)

Take care

Ag aluad ka

Yes.

Wen.

No.

Saan. (in the Abagatan Dialect Haan)

Excuse me. (getting attention)

Pakawanen-nak. [alsoExcuse
me. (Ilocanos don't usually use the native term
anymore.)]

Excuse me. (begging pardon)

Dispensar.

I'm sorry.

Pakawan. (also Dispensar)

Goodbye

Agpakadaakon. (also Kastan or kasta pay lit.
Till then.)

Goodbye (informal)

Innakon. (lit. I am going. )

I can't speak name of language.

Diak nagsasao ti name of the language.
(meaning: The speaker has no
knowledge of the language.)

I can't speak name of the language well.

Diak nalaing iti name of the language.
(meaning: The speaker has a knowledge
of the language but not with enough competence.)

Do you speak English?

Agsasao ka iti Inggles? ( ?)

Is there someone here who speaks English?

Adda kadi tattao nga agsasao ti Inggles?
( ?)

Help!

Tulong!

Look out!

Agan-nad! (or Agan-nad ka!)

Good morning.

Naimbag a bigat.

Good afternoon

Naimbag a malem.

Good evening.

Naimbag a rabii.

Good night.

Naimbag a rabii. (Note: Ilocano has actually no equivalent
words to express this sentence.)

agsakitak (Note: Filipinos generally equate this sentence with
I have a fever. To say this, it is more
proper to say, ag-gurigurak)

I met an accident.

Naaksidente ak!

I need a doctor.

Masapulko ti doktor.

Numbers

There exist two names for the numbers in Ilocano. The native
Ilocano and the Spanish names. Generally, Ilocanos use the Spanish
terms if they are talking about time of very large quantities. You
will however see the native terms if you would read literary books.
If you are going on a shopping, prices of small values are given in
this form.

0

awan or sero

1

maysa

2

dua

3

tallo

4

uppat

5

lima

6

innem

7

pito

8

walo

9

siam

10

sangapulo

11

sangapulo ket maysa

12

sangapulo ket dua

13

sangapulo ket tallo

14

sangapulo ket uppat

15

sangapulo ket lima

20

duapulo

30

tallopulo

40

uppat a pulo

50

limapulo

60

innem a pulo

70

pitopulo

80

walo a pulo

90

siam a pulo

100

sangagasut

101

sangagasut ket maysa

150

sangagasut ket limapulo

151

sangagasut ket limapulo ket lima

200

duagasut

300

tallogasut

400

uppatgasut

500

limagasut

1000

sangaribu

10000

sangariwriw

100000

sangabillion

Time

Telling the time is rather complicated in Ilocano. People use a
combination of the Spanish system and the native style of telling
time. However, even the Spanish system has changed that those who
has learnt how to tell time in Spanish may not understant it quite
easily. Here are some phrases:

Clock Time

Ilocanos use the 12hr clock. So, no more to learn Spanish number
beyond that (for time only).

To say half-past an hour or a quarter of an hour, we may use the
Spanish system or:

Half-past one

Maika-maysa ket kagadua

Quarter past one

Maika-maysa ket sangapulu key lima

now

ita

later

madamdama

before

sakbay

after

kalpasan

morning

bigat

this morning

ita bigat

noon

tenggaat adlaw

afternoon

malem

evening

rabii

night

rabii

today

ita nga adlaw

yesterday

idi kalman

the day before yesterday

idi sakbay kalman

tomorrow

inton bigat

the day after tomorrow

sumaruno a bigat

this week

ita lawas

next week

sakbay a lawas

seconds

segundo

minutes

minuto

hours

oras

day

aldaw

week

lawas

month

bulan

year

tawen

Days

Days of the Week (Adlaw iti Lawas) follow their corresponding
Spanish counterparts:

Domingo

Sunday

Lunes

Monday

Martes

Tuesday

Mierkoles

Wednesday

Juebes

Thursday

Biernes

Friday

Sabado

Saturday

Months

Months of the year (dagiti Bulan iti Tawen) follows the names of
their Spanish counterparts:

January

Enero

February

Febrero

March

Marso

April

Abril

May

Mayo

June

Junio

July

Julio

August

Agosto

September

Setiembre

October

Octubre

November

Noviembre

December

Disiembre

Writing time and date

Once we have leart how to say time and date, writting them is
very simple. In writing the date, one genreally gives the day
first, followed by the month and the year. If we have to indicate
the time, it follows ifter the date.

Note: As adjectives may be places at
either sides of the noun, one must not forget the ligature
nga (if the next word begins with a
vowel) or a (if the next word begins with
a consonant) to establish the connection.

Sample: yellow dress may be rendered
as bado a duyaw or duyaw a
bado.

Transportation

Like the rest of the Philippines, busses and taxis are not the
primary mode of transportation in Ilocandia (i.e.
the Northern Philippines). For short distances, the tricycles
remain to be the most available form of transportation. For average
distance travels, the modified Filipino jeep will be the best way
to navigate the area. Indeed, these jeepneys dominate the streets
of the Philippines that they are often called The King
of the Streets throughout the archipelago. Busses and
trains are only used for very long distances.

How much is the fare to name of the place?

Manu ti plete inggana idiay name of the place?
(Literally: How much to the name of the place.)

How many people can take a ride?

Manu nga tao ti mabalin nga sumakay?

Stop!

Para! (This is used only for modes of transportation and never
for people.)

How much is the ticket for name of the
place?

Manu ti ticket nga mapan didiay idiay name of the
place?

I'll take one ticket.

Maysa nga ticket ti alaek , Mangalanak ti maysa nga ticket

Where does this bus/ train go to?

Papanan 'toy bus/ tren? (Note: Busses in the Philippines tend
to have signboards so you won't be needing to ask this question
frequently.)